Tag: peace corps

Peace Corps is known for its 3-month Community-Based Training at the beginning of a volunteer’s service. Sometimes people forget that there are other conferences, trainings, and workshops available throughout one’s service.

Every volunteer, no matter the country nor sector must attend the following:

CBT or Community Based Training: Scheduled the first 10 weeks to 3 months in country. This training includes language, cultural, and technical support.

IST or In-Service Training: Scheduled after that staging group’s 3rd month in site. This training consists of additional cultural and technical support that wasn’t covered during CBT. After this training, volunteers are allowed to travel out of site and can take vacation days if they wish.

MST or Mid-Service Training: Scheduled around that group’s swearing in date but could be delayed by 2 months. At this training, volunteers will have their annual medical and dental evaluations. This training will focus on the reflection of your 1st year of service and help you think about your 2nd-year plans.

COS or Close of Service Conference: Scheduled 3 months before your end of service. At this conference you apply for/receive your official leave date, reflect on your 2 years of service and prepare for life as an RPCV.

Each country and sector will have other workshops and training that are more specific to the service of the volunteer. I have been to the following: IFY Passport to Success Training, Amazigh Language Training, Regional Meeting, and Thanksgiving/Get Flu Shot Dinner.

Others available that I did not attend include the Library Workshop, Health Workshop, PP&D Workshop, Wellness Retreat, Gender, and Development Training, etc.

Without further adieu, here is a sample day in the life of one of these types of events in Peace Corps Morocco. This schedule is part of the COS Conference for Staj 96 2014-2016 (my group).

I took a week off of work to visit my host family and other volunteers the week of Christmas. It wasn’t until right before I left that I was told that Thursday (Dec. 24th) was the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday. I think it’s a beautiful coincidence that two of the most popular religions celebrated their leaders during the same time in 2015.

Here I want to share some moments with my host family during the Prophet’s birthday:

Later that day (Dec. 24th) I traveled to other volunteer’s site to celebrate Christmas:

I observed this Muslim Holiday with my host family in Morocco. I filmed the part that most Americans are interested to see. There is also a lot of socializing and eating with family and friends.

This holiday commemorates Ibrahim’s (Abraham) willingness to sacrifice his son to God. This festival also marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Eid al-Adha is a time for wishing one another well. Many Muslims in the United States celebrate Eid al-Adha with prayers and social gatherings.

May 29-June 3rd: My parents decided to visit Morocco and I. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen them in person. Sometimes Skype just isn’t enough.

We stayed a night in Casablanca before heading down to my site.

Fancy Bathroom in Casablanca

Mom, Dad, and I

Fancy Hotel in Casabanca

Breakfast was delicious!

Busing it down to site.

Once in my site we ate soooo much food! My parents cannot handle a lot of carbs but they enjoyed themselves anyway. Mom was fascinated by everything. I was happy they were able to see my suq. It’s nothing super special but there’s a lot of variety for a small town.

My Moroccan Parents and My American Parents

Mom was surprised to see turkeys at suq

Mom took pics of everything including the post office

Mom loved the donkey parking lot.

Truck full of gas tanks

Of course we had couscous

Mom and Dad dressed as Amazighs

Mom in a Lizar

Down by the river…

On Tuesday, we went to Merzouga. We were supposed to going camel trekking by we went during the low peak time and the camels were only going in the evening. We climbed the dunes, gathered some sand to take home, and had tea. We went to Rissani for lunch and Mom did some shopping and bought a pink kiftan. Later on their last day in at Casablanca, Mom also bought a jebador and some other outfits and souvenirs.

In Merzouga!

Camel harness

Traditional mill grinder

Relaxing by the pool?

Tea Time!

Their last night in, we ate Hirrara, washed off the sand from the desert, and hopped on a night bus back to Casablanca.

This was a new experience. I’ve never taken blood pressure before. Of course, I’ve had my own taken by a nurse or doctor for check ups and I never understood what the numbers meant. As long as the doctor said it was good, then that’s all I needed to know.

I was the first volunteer to arrive the Wednesday before the Rose Festival for the TOT, Training of Trainers. The training was simple enough, thank goodness. There were other volunteers who did this last year or at some other festival. We had electronic as well as manual machines. The electronic ones were so simple: wrap it around the wrist or upper arm, turn it on and let it do its magic. The wrist machine was awesome to have for taking women’s blood pressure since it didn’t force them to push their sleeves up too much or need to remove clothing.

I actually enjoyed using the manual devices once I had some practice with them. I felt so official; like I was a real nurse or something. We, the volunteers, were asked other medical questions since the Moroccans thought we were real doctors. We had to recommend to them to go to the hospital or clinic for their questions.

Besides the Rose Festival, Kelaa M’Gouna is known for its Dagger Co-operatives. They make the traditional curved daggers and swords, that were used by the Amazigh people. I bought several for myself, family and friends.